Gregor and the Lost Flier
by PewPewIndustries
Summary: Ares is still alive and it's Gregor's job to save him as they journey through the unmapped Dead Land, filled with rats rogue to the bond of the rats and humans. And I know that sounds really freaking lame but I'm bad at summaries and I thought the ending for the Underland Chronicles was too depressing, so I started writing this. Read the end to know why Gregor stays in the Overland
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

When Gregor woke up, he had the immediate impression that this day was going to be weird. He uncertainly opened his eyes and looked around suspiciously, nothing strange was going on so far.

Gregor smiled. His life was far from normal, he'd been dragged down to an underground world called the Underland after his toddler sister Boots had fallen down the grate in his laundry room.

There he fought in the ancient war between the humans and the enormous rats, and played as someone called "he warrior" in four prophecies by a guy named Bartholomew of Sandwich, who lived and died over four hundred years ago. There Gregor made friends and enemies, Luxa, who would become queen when she turned sixteen (she would be Gregor's age now, twelve), Temp who was an enormous cockroach, Ripred, a near-invincible rager rat that could kill basically anything (a rager is a term in the Underland, a person with special abilities to kill with lethal accuracy and power, Gregor was a rager too). And most of all, Ares, his bond. A bond was a mutual understanding between a bat and a human, and they swear to keep each other alive no matter what. Ares had died from a white rat named the Bane, huge even by the Underland rat standards.

Now Gregor lived in depression, grieving his long-lost friend, missing Luxa, who Gregor fell in love with, and Luxa loved him too, and not knowing if he belonged above ground or below.

Things weren't all down though, it seemed with the death of Gregor's warrior self, came life to everyone else. His dad made a _huge_ turnaround from his Underland sickness he picked up while in the custody of the rats for two and a half years, and he was teaching high school science again, with the occasional fever. His mom took off some work to spend more time with her kids, and they were going to spend the rest of the school year in New York City then move to their family's farm in Virginia.

Evidence of Gregor's past rager self seemed to buzz on the surface at times, when he was angry, embarrassed, or even when he was playing video games at his friend Larry's house. He'd forgotten his echolocation he had picked up in the Underland, but something inside of him new he would always be a rager.

Gregor got up slowly and put some clothes on. Just one more day and it would be the Weekend, where he could relax and play his saxophone, maybe take Boots out for ice cream. She loved ice cream.

He went to school, still suspicious of the day being abnormal in some way.

* * *

When he went home, he did some chores, the last of which was the laundry. Entering the laundry room made a sigh escape out of Gregor, as it always did. If his had dad slept well that one night about three years ago, Gregor would've never have been pulled into this mess. Then again, Sandwich's prophecies had always seemed to latch on to Gregor.

Part of Gregor wanted to hop down that grate, and meet his old friends, including Ares, who was of course undoubtedly dead by now. The rest of Gregor wanted to pack for Virginia and never look back.

After putting the laundry in the wash, he stared at the grate in between two laundry machines. So much changed after Boots fell down there, there in that horrible yet wonderful place, Gregor's—wait—was that a note stuck in there? It was! Gregor got on his hands and knees and pulled it out. Then, he read it.

 _Dear Gregor,_

 _Ares is alive! He is barely surviving in the Dead Land, there is no time to waste. Get a weapon, a compass, and head to the Dead Land entrance in the Overland. Then head north according to the compass, we are counting on you for Ares's life, as you are the only Overlander we have contact with. Good luck._

 _-Vikus_

Below was the address to the entrance and instructions on how to get to it. Was Gregor imagining this somehow by means of depression? Was this a fake letter? No, it was signed with Vikus's signature, he remembered it from past letters. Forgetting about the laundry, he rushed to his apartment, quickly explained to his mom what was happening, and grabbed a flashlight, a compass, and an ax, as that was the only weapon-like item they had in their apartment.

"Now wait a moment!" Gregor's mom said. "You're not going to that horrible place again!" She grabbed Gregor's arm and pulled him back.

"Mom, Ares is my bond. You would do the same for me, or Lizzie, or Boots." Lizzie was Gregor's other sister. "I'm not going to let him die alone in the Dead Land."

"This is completely different." Gregor's mom said. "You're one of my children, Ares is just a bat."

That really stung. Gregor loved his mother, but he couldn't help scowl at her. "I'm going to save him whether you like it or not." He said sternly. He didn't like talking back to his parents, but after the long weeks grieving over Ares, he wasn't going to take no for an answer on an opportunity to save him.

Just then dad entered the apartment, seeing Gregor and his mom, he said, "What's going on?"

Gregor quickly explained everything, and his dad nodded. "Go get him," he said.

He hugged his parents, his mother in tears, and rushed out of the apartment before he would tear up himself. "Wait!" His dad suddenly shouted behind him. "Before you leave, you should take an adult with money to buy you a cab and get you there."

* * *

Gregor and his dad stood by the tree with the hole in it, staring at the hole. "Gregor, I should come with you."

"No," said Gregor. "I don't want you pulled into this. Ares is my bond, you have no say in it."

"But as your parent, my duty is to protect you." His dad replied.

"But as the warrior, my duty is protect the Underland, Ares falls into that category. No offence, but you're just a science teacher, you would only get in the way." It struck a bad cord in Gregor to say something like that, but it was the truth. He didn't want to have his father down in the Underland, he might get hurt.

"What if you die?" His dad said.

"I'm not going to." With that, Gregor dropped into the hole. His dad at first reached out to him as he fell, but then stopped.

Gregor dropped down about six feet, and turned on his flashlight. In front of him was a huge very steep staircase, chipped out of the stone, worn out and with sand, moss, and dents on it. It was more worn out and steep than the stairs at the entrance in Central Park, and he peered down at them. They were perilous, he thought, a slip and he could slide down far, possibly getting himself killed. That would be a very unlikely scenario, however. He walked down, carefully, he wanted to get to Ares quickly, but something about the stairs scared him.

The climb down was long, and by the time he made it down he was very winded.

"Gregor . . . " a purring voice came from the small tunnel he was now in, he cut through the darkness with his flashlight, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat.

"Ares." He said.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Gregor ran to Ares, ready to help his friend in need, who sported a wound on his chest, and was missing his whole right claw. And tripped. Ares gave one of his very rare laughs, which sounded more like "huh, huh, huh" than actual laughter. He was in the corner of the small cave, sitting on the ground.

"Stupid freaking—" He kicked the rock he tripped over, but it didn't budge. He kicked it again, with the same result. He looked at Ares, who shrugged.

Gregor picked the rock up, and it slid out of the ground. It had a glass capsule attached to the bottom, which had been in the ground. Inside the the glass capsule was a scroll.

"Who would leave a scroll here?" Ares asked.

"I don't know," Gregor replied. He grabbed a sharp rock nearby, put the capsule on the ground, and threw the rock at it. The capsule broke and he took the note, reading it to Ares.

 _"A Warrior long thought dead,_

 _returns to save a thought lost friend_

 _a need to survive, a goal ahead_

 _a throat slashed and more blood shed_

 _a war resurfaced from rogues,_

 _a bond broken, return our foes._

 _a new face, a face of scars and sorrow_

 _the queen wears such, but it is only burrowed_

 _such face is gone, as her rescuers arrive_

 _to save her from her time to die_

 _a falling reaper_

 _makes the warrior's life weaker_

 _a spinner life savior,_

 _makes things unsafer_

 _A final attempt to take their life_

 _a last stab, fate's invite,_

 _and accidental blow doth smite_

 _thus ends a story full of blight"_

"It's signed Bartholomew of Sandwich," Gregor finished, then he walked to Ares and hugged him. Normally he would've grasped his right claw, a sign for a bonded bat and human, but after all of Gregor's depression and the fact Ares no longer had a right claw, Gregor hugged him.

Ares hugged him back, with tears in his eyes. "How?" Gregor asked.

Ares sighed and started his story. "Well, after the fight with the Bane, you were gone, and I was deep in the Dead Land with nobody to help me." Ares said. "I searched for help, and found a moth. He . . . well I think the moth was a he . . . helped me and brought me here, to the entrance of the Overland. The moth then went to Regalia and Vikus sent word immediately."

Gregor frowned, "how are we going to get out of here? We could try the Overland."

"No, I don't think your people will think highly of a flier getting around there."

Gregor nodded, "So are we going to north like Vikus said?"

"That is our best shot. He might send some scouts to find us on the way."

"What about this note from Sandwich?" Gregor said.

Ares looked at it. "It's in his penship, although I've rarely seen his writings on paper. He must've known you would've tripped on it."

"Let's try to make sense of it. 'A warrior long thought dead, returns to save a long lost friend.' I'm the warrior long thought dead, you're the long lost friend." Gregor said.

Ares agreed, and Gregor moved on.

"'A need to survive, a goal ahead,' the goal must mean Regalia, and we have a need to survive in the Dead Land." Gregor continued "'A throat slashed and more blood shed, a war resurfaced by rogues, a bond broken, return our foes.' The throat slashed may come sometime later, as well as the blood shed. As for the war resurfaced from rogues and our foes returning, I think that would be the bond with Luxa and Ripred breaking with some rats or something."

"The bond was made by Luxa and Ripred, the leaders of the rats and humans. These rats must be rogues against the rat government." Ares said.

"Speaking of Luxa, I think this next part is about her. 'A new face, a face of scars and sorrow,' the sorrow part of the face may not be new."

It kind of went without saying Luxa was sorrowful, her parents and grandmother died, as well as the things that Luxa saw, and of course Gregor leaving her and Ares thought to be dead.

Gregor read the next part. "'The queen wears such, but it is only burrowed, such face is gone, as her rescuers arrive to save her from her time to die.' Her rescuers . . . is she danger or will be?"

"I don't know," Ares replied.

"'A falling reaper makes the warrior's life weaker, a spinner life savior, makes things unsafer. A final attempt to take their life, a last stab, fate's invite, and accidental blow doth smite this ends a story full of blight.' This all seems like stuff that happens later." Gregor picked up his ax that fell out of his hand as he tripped. "What are we going to do about supplies?" He asked Ares.

"We can fish and drink water from streams along the way, but we should get moving."

Gregor nodded.

It felt infinitely better for Gregor to be with his bond, but things were looking a bit grim. A war resurfacing from rogue rats, Luxa captured—or maybe not, Sandwich's prophecies were very cryptic.

After about an hour of travelling, Ares's ears perked up. "Gregor," he said. "There is a rat ahead, savage with hunger. I am going to go a different way than I thought."

"Okay," They were travelling in the dark, to conserve energy in Gregor's flashlight.

They flew on again, this time going a slightly dangerous and more populated route. After a half hour, another surprise reared its majestic head.

"Gregor, it's Temp." Ares suddenly said. "Surrounded by rats."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Ares we need to save him!" Gregor exclaimed.

"We only have your . . . what is your weapon?" Ares replied.

"It's called an ax and it's used to chop wood, but that's not the point!"

Ares charged forward and Gregor's light beam hit a group of six foot tall rats surrounding a four foot cockroach. Gregor swung his ax at the rats, his rager self firing up. He could now see places a blow would be fatal, his vision hightened and his muscels strengthened. The rats scattered but then quickly regrouped.

"Kill them!" A rat shouted.

Ares flew straight at Temp, and, knowing what to do, Temp leaped in the air and Gregor caught him.

After a bit of flying, Ares announced they were in safe range away from the rats.

"What happened, Temp, why are you in the Dead Land?" Gregor asked.

"Luxa is captured," Temp said. "I lead group of crawlers to rescue, rats attacked." His antennae twitched with anxiety.

"Where is Luxa?" Gregor asked.

"Go, left, go," Temp told Ares.

They flew on for an hour, stopping along the way to drink at a stream and resupply on fish.

The next tunnel they flew through had a low ceiling, and as they went along, an enormous mole fell from the ceiling, bringing tons of rock along with it. The mole (or digger, as the Underlanders referred to them) slashed as it fell, and its huge claw struck Gregor on the chest, blinding him with pain.

The digger ran away, having at least wounded the warrior.

"Gregor!" Ares shouted. "Temp, use his clothing to stop the bleeding."

"I'm conscious I can do it myself!" Gregor cried and ripped off his shirt. "This wound is going to get infected if we don't wash it first."

"You must stop the bleeding first, the wound is large." Ares hadn't seen the wound yet, but he probably used echolocation to detect how big it was or something.

Gregor managed to pause the bleeding enough for them to get to a stream, and by then they could rinse it down. Gregor did his best to stay conscious during the procedure, the water was cold and loss of blood a bit unsettling, but infection from a wound deep in the Dead Land could be bad news.

They continued on, and Gregor took a nap as they went.

"Gregor, we are near Luxa, we are," Temp's voice woke Gregor up, and he was immediately alert.

"Where is she?" Gregor asked.

"She is surrounded by rats; they are about to kill her." Ares said.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Gregor found himself charging yet another group of rats attacking yet another one of his friends with the intent of killing the friend. He was right to think today was going to be weird.

This time, however, the rats weren't stupid and he actually had to attack them.

There were three rats, forming a close circle around Luxa, they were all down in a ten foot pit, about thirty feet in diameter. Gregor didn't know why they wouldn't just kill Luxa right then and there, maybe they thought they could kill Gregor easily and then move on to Luxa, keeping their professional execution.

The rat closest to Gregor in the small circle leaped at Gregor as he charged, and swung his claws at him, Gregor didn't have much to block with, but Ares was nimble enough to dodge the attack, giving an opening for Gregor to chop with his ax.

His rager self in full force now, Gregor brought down his ax on the rat's head and the rat cried in pain. The rat would be disabled for a while but he may come back.

The next rat went for the defense, up against the wall of the pit, his paws in front of his face. When Ares charged at him, he leaped in the air and literally kicked Gregor in the face. Cuts sprouted on the surface of Gregor's face, and he grimaced. He was really out of practice.

The rat, now behind him, smirked, then charged at Luxa.

Luxa ran, but the rat had her cornered. Rats were naturally faster than humans, Luxa wouldn't make it far. Ares flew straight at the rat, but this was what he wanted. He spun around and attacked Ares with his ferocious claws. The rat, however, underestimated Ares's ability to fly backwards. Ares dodged and Gregor swung his ax at the rat's throat, the rat instantly died.

The third just ran for it, and Ares flew at him and broke his neck with his huge wing, killing him in seconds flat. Then he flew back to the only alive rat, the one whose head had been smashed by Gregor's ax. Gregor finished the job, killing him by chopping off his head.

Luxa stood in shock, staring at her rescuers with wide eyes.

After not seeing Luxa for such a long time, Gregor had to think of a cunning greeting. Something romantic, something heroic, and something bold.

"Yo." He said.

"What this be 'yo'?" Luxa asked. As told in the note from Sandwich, her face was full of scars, but no longer of sorrow, as her face lit up after Gregor's greeting.

"Never mind, other rats may be coming." Luxa climbed on Ares, and they flew off.

As they flew away, Gregor recounted everything that happened so far on the journey, which included reading the note from Sandwich, and Luxa told him everything that happened in Regalia.

As foretold by Sandwich, a war was relapsing from rogue rats, them thinking that rats and humans could never live together. They'd taken Luxa hostage, and were planning on killing her to break the bond with the rats and humans.

Suddenly Gregor felt feverish, and Luxa and Temp told him to rest. He slept, with disturbing dreams.

 **Uh oh, is Gregor getting sick? Find out in the next chapter! (this bold text isn't part of the story, but is my communication to the reader outside of the story)**


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Gregor was running away from an army of huge ants in the jungle, Luxa was waving at him and smiling, sitting on Ares fluttering above him.

"Me and Ares have agreed with the cutters that they should feed you to their young." Luxa's voice was distant and distorted. "Just make sure you watch where you step."

Gregor stepped on an egg, and it burst into half a dozen normal sized white spiders. Other eggs bursted around him into more spiders and the dream changed from running from ants to running from spiders. Gregor knew that if one ended crawling on him he was done for, yet he was running into spiderweb after spiderweb trying to avoid an army of killer arachnids.

Then a huge tub of bleach appeared in front of him, blocking his path. The cap for the bleach rose into the air and started spinning, then a sea of spiders started crawling out of the bleach.

Gregor awoke sweating. He'd never been remotely afraid of spiders, the Underland kind intimidated him because of their size, but the Overland spiders were always fine to him. Now, however, he shivered at the thought of the dream—well, shivered harder, as he was already shivering.

"Where are we?" Gregor asked.

"We are near the Waterway," Luxa said, peering at him from above, as Gregor was lying down on Ares's back. "Go back to sleep, you have seemed to have captured an infection from the digger wound."

Gregor groaned, and closed his eyes. His head was burning and sporting a headache, he was sweating, and his stomach was aching. It would be a good idea to go to sleep.

* * *

Gregor heard the rush of water when he woke up, and swooshing. What was going on? Was the swooshing the sound of his ax? He woke up, and determining this was _not_ a dream, but reality, he looked around the cave they were in.

There were rats attacking them from different angles, the ceiling not being high enough for Ares to fly over them. He was bobbing and weaving through rats trying to slice the group to pieces.

Gregor started to slip, but the only sound of warning he could make was a groan. Luxa turned around to him, but he was already falling off of Ares.

Gregor started to fall, and fall. Maybe a rat would rip his guts open on the way down, maybe he would smash into the ground below, perhaps he would land on a spider egg and hundreds of spiders would come out and eat him, who knows?

But none of those things happened, instead, he fell in the river they were flying over. He was swept away and was now struggling to stay above the surface. The river ahead started to move down, and he was flung downwards with it. Then, as he was plummeting, he ran into a huge spiderweb.

It was just like the dream—well, not exactly, it was actually far from his dream. It was a huge spiderweb and he was caught in it, and a huge spider was coming to eat him.

"H-hey! Stop!" Gregor shivered and squirmed. "Get away!" He tried to ward the spider off by waving his hand, but it had little effect.

The spider advanced on him and revealed its huge fangs, about to kill him. Gregor exhaled, and spoke quietly this time. "Listen, I am trying to get back to Regalia, I'm the warrior, I'm Gregor the Overlander."

The spider stopped. "Warrior is dead," the spider drummed its front legs on its chest, which was its way of speaking.

"No, no, he's alive, I'm him."

The spider hesitated a moment, then continued to advance on Gregor, the huge thing was just about to kill him when Ares, Luxa, and Temp showed up.

"Stop, spinner!" Luxa forgot about speaking quietly and charged forward, holding Gregor's ax in front of her.

The spinner skittered off away from Gregor. "Apologies, I did not know of this human's ally to you." It said, "May I make it up to you?"

"You can gently get him unstuck from your web and make us some bandages." Luxa replied.

The spinner expertly took Gregor off, giving him minimal pain and injuries, then he weaved a ball of bandages. The spider placed Gregor on Ares and gave the bandages to Luxa.

"Many thanks." Luxa said. After they flew off, Luxa explained to Gregor that they were allied to the spinners, given the aftermath of the war.

They applied the bandages to Gregor's and other's wounds and continued their journey.

 **There's chapter 5, we're clsoe to the end now.**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

"Gregor, we are here." Luxa woke Gregor, shaking his shoulder softly. He was sleeping a lot, trying to survive his infection.

They were at the docks of the palace of Regalia, and their were two armies clashing, rat and human. Ares flew over them and into the High Hall.

The High Hall was completely empty of people. The group walked forward towards the corridor leading out of the Hall, Luxa first then Gregor. Luxa then left the Hall into the corridor.

"Oh, Stellovet, what a pleasant surprise." Luxa said, a scowl appearing on her face.

For some reason Gregor stopped. Maybe it was from the initial shock of Stellovet appearing, maybe he didn't like Stellovet enough to confront her, whatever it was, it helped fulfill Sandwich's prophecy.

 _Shing!_

Stellovet pulled out a dagger and charged at Luxa, now entering Gregor's line of sight. She held her dagger up to Luxa throat, and held her insane eyes trained at her. Gregor pulled Ares and Temp quietly from the doorway to the side.

"There is a revolution happening, Luxa. The humans and gnawers can coexist, but not under your rule, or the idiot council or that fool Vikus." Stellovet said.

Gregor suddenly remembered the last part of the prophecy. "A throat slashed and more blood shed," was Luxa's the throat being slashed?

Gregor wasn't going to let that happen. He flung himself towards Stellovet and held his ax up to her. "Stop right there."

Stellovet turned her eyes towards Gregor. "Ah, Gregor. It's been a while." She grabbed the blade of the ax and thrusted her dagger at Gregor.

Gregor's rager side kicked in fully. He ducked her dagger and kicked her in the chest. Stellovet was sent sprawling.

Stellovet got back up and attacked fully at Gregor. Gregor didn't want to kill her, and was about knock her out or something, when she cut his arm.

Now Gregor's rager side was activated even more, if possible, and he lost himself. He slashed his ax and Stellovet's throat was slashed.

* * *

Later after he was healed, Gregor consulted Vikus about Sandwich's note. "Yes, this is definitely Sandwich's," Vikus said. Vikus also told him the latest theory on how Ares survived, and that it was due to the trauma of the situation, Gregor had invented Ares's death, and when the Underlander and shiner came and found Gregor, they'd seen so much blood in the area that Ares was presumed dead. Afterwards a moth appeared to Ares and helped him get to the entrance in the Dead Land, and sent a message to Regalia of Ares's survival.

Now, Gregor felt satisfied. Here the "story full of blight" was finally over. Ares still lived, Luxa, Vikus, and Ripred could handle the war on their own (they told him), and Gregor's role as the warrior was now, truly over.

He went to his family's farm in Virginia and retired, a war veteran.

 **Ok, there it is. My ending. The reason why I wrote this is because the Underland Chronicles was never truly satisfying to me. In the beginning Gregor felt bored with the summer, and is dropped into the Underland, where he meets friends and freaking Ares dies.**

 **The sadness of the story made it hard for me to enjoy it one hundred percent. At times I wanted to throw the book across the room and punch something. Gregor is poor and his father disappeared without a trace and that alone is enough to make your heart ache, and by the end you want to cripple to your knees and beg Suzzane Collins to make it stop.**

 **So, if you enjoyed my story then I'm greatly honored, as I think it was actually kind of lame. I** _ **might**_ **do more FanFiction/FictionPress in the future, although that is debatable.**

 **If you got this far review "beef casserole" to confuse everyone.**

 **WHY I DIDN'T PUT GREGOR IN THE UNDERLAND AT THE END**

 **After writing this about a year before, I decided to write why I didn't put Gregor in the Underland at the end, as him ending up there seems to be a popular opinion.**

 **Well, it's bad writing. In a story if the protagonist finds a far-away land that needs saving, then after his saving, he needs to return home. It's basic writing. Not only that but Gregor killed in the Underland; he shed blood. If I were in a land where I had to kill to make peace, and I did kill, I would turn away and never look back after saving it, no matter how many Luxas I fell in love with.**

 **So this story is an alternate ending to those who agree with me to some extant, if you don't and think Gregor should have stayed in the Underland, then write your own FanFic, it may be better than mine, who knows?**


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